The present invention relates to a modular conveyor system for the transport and distribution of goods of various types, shapes, surfaces, weight and consistency. Already known are conveyor systems in which the goods are transported over conveyor belts equipped with switches, rollers, transversely extending belts, and can be transferred out at various target locations. The goods must here be adapted to the belt conditions. Reliable transport and malfunction-free distribution are very dependent on the frictional relationships between the goods and the belt. In particular, loose and lightweight goods, such as paper, loose newspapers and magazines, may fall off the belt or be blown away. In connection with these goods, there also exists the danger of malfunctions at switches and branch-offs and in the region of the outward transfer. On the other hand, for materials welded into plastic there exists the danger of adhesion to the conveyor belt. Moreover, in such systems, if guide means such as slide planes or the like are employed along the sides of the conveyor belts, relative movements occur between the material being transported and these guide means so that there exists the danger of damage to the goods being transported.
Other conveyor systems are based on container transport on rails, rollers or wheels, or on dump-tray techniques. The drawbacks of these systems are that the containers or trays must be returned and that the ballistic ejection of the goods being transported when they are transferred out exerts greater forces on the goods.
The present invention intends to avoid the drawbacks of the prior art conveying devices. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor system in which a defined and reliable guidance of the goods takes place along a continuous conveying path during the entire transporting and distribution process, in which contact and friction of the goods at guide means and switches are minimized, in which the goods assume no undefined states during outward transfer, and in which the influence of the surface consistency of the goods being transported on the transporting and distribution process is minimized.
The above object is generally realized by the present invention by a modular conveyor arrangement for transporting and distributing discreet or continuous goods comprising two or more aligned conveyor modules attached to a basic frame, with each conveyor module including a rack on which a bottom conveyor and two lateral guide conveyors are mounted, and with the rack of each conveyor module being movable, relative to the frame and the other conveyor modules, for discharging goods out of the respective conveyor module.
The invention is based on the realization that in a conveyor belt system a relative movement between the goods and the transporting means can be avoided and simultaneously defined guidance and outward transfer of the goods can be realized in that the conveyor system is composed of conveyor modules in which two lateral belts are arranged parallel to an underfloor belt, with the belts, that is, the underfloor belt and the lateral belts, being mounted on a rack and the rack of each conveyor module is movable, when the belts are moving, so that the goods can be transferred out of the conveyor module in question.
The invention will be described below with reference to the drawing figures .